Importance of Russia

Russia is a significant location mentioned often by Mishra, not only because of the great number of Russian authors whom Mishra cites but also due to the fact that Russia's experience as a 'non-Western' country in Europe demonstrates many important aspects of the modernization project of European intellectuals. For example, Mishra writes that Russian intellectuals suffered greatly at the thought that their country was 'behind' the rest of Europe in terms of modern industrial technology as well as in terms of social norms, yet there were also many Russian thinkers who resented the role which Western philosophers played in trying to push Russia to mimic the West.